Spike-extractor



FHELI- W. S. AUSTIN.

SPIKE EXTRACTOR.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.28, 1920.

Patent/ed 0st. 5, 19265 2 SHEETSSHEET l.

IL I

WBTNESSES W. S. AUSTIN.

SPIKE EXTRACTOR.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.28, 1920.

Patented 0015.5,1920.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

INVENTGR m m, x?

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WALTER S. AUSTIN, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO JOHN S.

WINCRANTZ, OF VVILKINSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

SPIKE-EXTRACTOR.

Application filed January 28, 1920.

To all whom it may co'nceam Be it known that I, IVALTER S. AUsTIN,

residing at Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, a citizen of the United States, have invented or discovered certain new and useful Improvements in .SpikeFxtractors, of which improvement the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in spikeextractors-machines used particularly in taking up railway tracks, replacing ties, etc. The objects are to provide a machine easily moved about and applied, a machine which one man alone may readily operate, a machine which will draw a spike without bending it.

In'the accompanying drawings, Figure I is a view in side elevation of a machine embodying my invention, applied, and in position ready to draw a railway spike. From the machine as it is shown in Fig. I, one of the side plates which form the body of the frame has, for purposes of illustration, been removed. Fig. II is a View of the same machine in end elevation; Fig. III is a view similar to Fig. I of the machine modified in detail, but still embodying the essential features of my invention; Figs. IV and V are views to larger scale and in side and end elevation of the draw-bar and spike-engaging head or grip of the machine.

Referring first to Fig. I, the machine will be seen to consist essentially of a frame 1, a lever mechanism 2, and spike-drawing instrumentalities consisting of a draw-bar 3 and attached parts. 7

The frame is provided with a plurality of feet (two, in this instance), one of which 1 is adapted to engage a rail, as shown; the other, an adjacent surface-ordinarily the surface of a tie between the two rails of a railway track or to one side. The rail-engaging foot 4 is provided with two regions of contact, the one region 6 is rigid, the other is faced with a roller or rollers 7 (two such rollers are shown). When the frame stands in the position shown in Fig. I, it is the region 6 only which makes contact with the rail surface. The rollers 7 are then free of contact. It is when the frame is in this position that the work of spike-drawing is done, and then the surface abutting upon the rail is the rigid surface 6. When, however. the machine is to be shifted from one service position to another, as from one tie Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 5, 1920.

Serial No. 354,663.

to another, the right hand side of the frame (as seen in Fig. I) is raised, the frame turns on the rail as a fulcrum, the rollers 7 come into bearing engagement upon the rail, while surface 6 rises from contact, and then the frame rolls easily along the rail, to the point where another spike is to be drawn. There the frame is swung again in the other direction, foot 5 rests on another tie, or other suitable surface, and foot 4 again bears upon the rail over surface 6 instead of rollers 7-for now rollers 7 are raised again, clear of contact with the rail. The foot 4: is flanged, as shown, with flanges which when the foot is in place extend along the rail on opposite sides; or, in other words, the foot is concave beneath,'and when in place is saddled on the rail. This construction insures the continued bearing of the foot upon the rail while the frame is swung transversely of the rail and upon the rail as a pivot, raising and lowering the opposite foot 5 and bringing the roller 7 and the surface 6 alternately into play as the supporting surface.

The draw-bar 3 is as shown provided with a rack.

The lever mechanism carried in the frame,

as illustrated in Fig. I, consists of levers 8 and 9, fulcrumod both of them on pins which extend between two side plates, 1, which make up the body of the frame. These two levers are connected by a pair of links 10. The parts are so proportioned and arranged that power applied to the free end of lever 8 (which will, as will be understood, be a long handle thrust in the socket with which lever 8 is shown to be provided) will be concentrated in the short and powerful swing of the work arm of lever 9 y In the work arm of lever 9 is pivoted a pawl 11, and this pawl, during the spikedrawing operation, engaging the rack, oarries draw-bar 3 and the instrumentalities which it bears, and imparts spike-drawing tension to the draw-bar.

The draw-bar 3 ascends and descends, being raised by pawl 11 while bearing on its opposite side against rollers 12, 12. A second spring-backed pawl 13 is pivoted in the frame and it will be understood without further explanation that such pawl so placed serves as a load-sustaining pawl when the operating lever, after it has made a down stroke to raise the load, is raised again, pre- 'as'indica'ted in the drawings.

liminarily to another stroke. The pawl 13 is provided with a lever 21, (Fig. II) by the proper swinging of which, pawl may be drawn aside (against spring tension) to release draw-bar 3. The two pawls 11 and 13 are so shaped and related in position that retraction of pawl 13 effects retraction of pawl 11 also. A spring 1% holds pawl 11 normally to ratchet engagement and limits the range of swing of pawl 13. is because of the vertical play of pawl 11 that the spring-backed extension 15, upon which pawl 13 (when retracted) bears, is elongated The spring 14 tends, as has just been said, always to bring pawl 11 to ratchet engagement, and,

through the instrumentality of plate 15, it restrains pawl'13 from swinging away from contact with the ratchet. A certain limited play is permitted to pawl 13, between the ratchet and plate '15, the pawl being so shaped and disposed that gravity always tends to carry it to ratchet engagement, from which position it is raised against gravity sufiiciently' to allow the passing of the ratchet teeth.

The draw-bar 3 is, it will now be understood, raised step by step on successive strokes of lever 8, and when at length a spike is by such raising drawn, and the spike-engaging instrumentalities are to be applied to another spike, a swinging of lever 21 will release the draw-bar 3 from both pawls, and

' allow it to descend again.

,a clevis 16, swiveled to it.

' spike to be drawn.

lowered and comes to rest upon its two feet,

Turning now to Figs. IV and V, the instrumentalities for engaging the spike remain to be considered. A pair of jaws 22 are pivoted at points; intermediate their length, preferably one to another. The jaws are shaped to bite beneath the head of a railroad spike. The draw-bar 3 terminates in Between this clevis and the otherwise free ends of the jaws 22 is arranged a tension toggle, that is to say, a toggle whichstraightens and exerts its outward thrust as tension is exerted through draw-bar 3. This toggle is made up of the links 17, and its'structure in detail and in preferred form will be under stood on comparing Figs. IV and V. The edges of the jaws are advantageously notched, as indicated at '18, Fig. V,-to allow the jaws when brought to place to overlap the flange of the rail. By this provision the point along the edges of the jaws where tension is exerted is more certainly brought near to the middle pointwhere, of course, the pulling strain will be most certainand effective. I

Operation will readily be understood. The frame resting upon the rail by rollers 7 and supported manually at the other side, is rolled along, until it comes over the The frame is there 'pawls 11 and 13 aside and to allow draw-bar to descend. The jaws 22 are brought to position on either side the spike to be drawn, and the pawls having meanwhile been released and allowed to close on draw-bar 3, power is applied to the handle inserted in and forming an extension of lever 8. By pumping on this handle, draw-bar 3 is jacked up; the jaws 22 swung by the toggle connection described, first take under the head of the spike and then grip it while the drawing tension is exerted. By the machine so organized one man working alone can himself draw any railroad spike, however secure. And the machine provides, as is manifest, for a sufiicient straight-line pull, so that the spike may be drawn entirely, without bending.

It remains to describe the modification shown in Fig. III. Here the pawl and ratchet lifting apparatus is dispensed with. Instead, the draw-bar 3 is screw threaded at its upper end, and a block 19 is adjust able along the draw-bar, being driven by the crank-turned nut 20., The block 19 bears upon levers .9 (of which there are two) from above, (it may, if preferred, be secured to levers 9 and as levers 9 swing upward, in response to the downward swing of the handle which forms an elongation of lever 8, spike-drawing tension will be exerted on draw-bar 3 ft will be understood that, when the machine as here shown is in operation, with each swinging of the handle upward, levers 9? will recede from follower block 19 (or from nut 20 if the block be secured to the lever). Then, if there be need, nut 20 may be advanced to make engagement anew, andthe lever8 may then be swung again to withdraw the spike so much farther. The power of theleverage maybe increased (with corresponding reduction of the range of lift) by shifting the pivot pin from the pivot hole 23 in lever 8 to hole 24.

I claim as my invention:

1. A spike-drawing machine including a frame having a plurality of feet adapted to bear, one of them upon a rail and another .upon the adjacent surface of the roadbed, the rail-engaging foot being provided with two regions of rail contact: an inner rigid region and'an outer roll-faced region; the frame bearing upon the track over one region of contact or the other, according as the frame is swung transversely of the rail andupon the rail as a pivot, raising and bear, one of them upon a rail and another upon the adjacent surface of the roadbed, the rail-engaging foot being concave and resting saddlelike upon the rail and being provided within its concavity with two regions of rail contact: an inner rigid region and an outer roll-faced region; the frame as it rests upon the track making contact with the track over one region of contact or the other, according as the frame is swung transversely of the rail and upon the rail as a pivot, raising and lowering the opposite foot relatively to the roadbed, the said frame being provided with spike-drawing instrumentalities, substantially as described.

3. In a spike extractor, a frame, a drawbar provided with a rack, a lever pivoted in said frame, two rack-engaging pawls pivoted one in said frame and the other in said lever, a spring anchored in said frame and engaging the lever-borne pawl and tending to hold said pawl to engagement with said rack, and a bearing plate extending from the pawl last named, in the direction in which the pawl under lever movement rises and falls and adjacent said second pawl, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

WALTER S. AUSTIN.

Witnesses:

BAYARD H. Crmrs'rr, FRANCIS J. ToMAssoN. 

